Fence



(iIoModL) G. S. HUNTER.

FENCE.

No. 369,005. Patented Aug. 30, 1887..

Attorney UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CALVIN S. HUNTER, OF HAMILTON, OHIO.

FENCE.

SPECIFICATION forming part-of Letters Patent No. 369,005, dated August 30, 1887.

Application filed December 21.1886. Serial No. 222,160. (No model.)

To ctZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CALVIN S. HUNTER, of Hamilton, Butler county, Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fences, of which the following is a specification.

My improvements relate to that class of fences formed of rails, poles, or boards with wire lashings; and the improvements will be readily understood from the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of a fence illustrative of my improvements; and Fig. 2, aplan of the same at a pair of stakes, showing a tightening-lever in the act of being tightened.

In the drawings, A indicates the usual crossstakes, with their feet either resting upon or set into the ground; B, a line of rails laid in the crotches of the stakes, and referred to hereinafter as being the top rails; (l, a line of rails supported just below the crot'ches of the stakes, and referred to hereinafter as being the bottom crotch-rails, D, the usual crosswires engaging the stakes below the crotch and below the bottom crotch-rails, and serving to support the latter, as usual; E, a top wire, one at each pair of stakes, made endless by the usual splicing, this endless wire being thrown over the top of one of the stakes, so as to bring that stake inside the wire, both members of the wire passing thence over the top rails and around the outside of the other stake of the pair, and thence inward again toward the top rail; F, a diagonal tightening-lever with its upper end inserted in the end of the top wire, which presents itself toward the top rails; G, stakes driven in the ground in the line of the fence at mid-points of the panels, these stakes coming at the feet of the tightening-levers; H, diagonals reaching from the feet of the tightening-levers upward along the panel of fence and under one of the stakes, where it is lashed to the stake; J, a series of lower rails disposed below the bottom crotch-rails, the rails of these lines being of irregular lengths and splicedwhere they intersect the tightening-levers and diagonals, being there secured by wire lashings; K, intermediate top rails lying between the top rails and the bottom crotch-rails and reaching nearly from one pair of stakes tothe next, and L wires engaging the top rails and bottom crotch-rails and sustaining the inter mediate top rails in central twists.

In constructing this fence the stakes are set up, with the bottom crotch-rails, G, with their cross-wires D, and the top rails, B, applied in the usual manner, thus producing a fence with two lines of rails near the top. This forms a fence which may be'useful in restraining cattle, but such a fence is,obviously,not adapted for restraining hogs. Even as a cattle-fence an objection would arise, owing to the open spaces between the top rails and the bottom erotclrrailsa space which would permit cattle to poke their heads through and eat from the crops growing close alongside the fence. Furthermore, the top rails could be easily lifted by cattle, and the top portion of the fence thus practically destroyed. I therefore apply the wires L at suitable points along the lengths of the panels of the fence, these wires engaging the top rails and bottom crotchrails, and they are to be applied as tightly as possible, thus causing the rails to hug the bottom and top of the crotches of the stakes. This ties the top structure together, stiffens the entire fence, and prevents the top rails being lifted by cattle. The wires after being applied are simply endless wires, made so by twisting splices. In order to close up the space be tween the top rails and the bottom crotchrails, I insert the intermediate top rails, K, as clearly shown in the drawings, these rails being twisted, lever-like, into the wires L and lashed at their other ends to stakes or levers. These rails may be of short lengths, otherwise useless, and they need not reach entirely from one pair of stakes to the next. Ifurther pro-, vide for strengthening the fence by the diagonal tightening-levers F. Such levers are common in this class of fences; but my arrangement of them and the result of the arrang'ement are, so far as Iknow, entirely novel.

I take the top wire, E, and throw one of its loop ends over one of the stakes of a pair. The remaining portion of the wire is passed over the top rails, then around the outside of the other stake of the pair, until the end of the wire thus brought around this stake presents its loop end at the side of the stake. I then take the tightening-lever F, with its lower end resting upon the ground outward at some dis- .two members of the wire.

is now moved inwardly until it lies in the line of the fence, thus tightening the top wire and drawing the tops of the stakes firmly sidewise against the top rail, thus rendering firm the entire structure at the crotch. The 'foot of the tighteninglever is prevented from moving outward by being lashed-to the stakes G, or, if there be bottom rails to the fence, by being lashed to such bottom rails; or the stakes may be employed in connection with the bottom rails, as shown in the drawings.

It will be noticed that the straining action of the tighteninglevers has been a side action entirely, and that the strains upon the wires have been met by the two members of the wire which pass around the outside of the stake against which the tightening-lever fulcrums, the strain being equally divided between the This permits of the heavy strains being put upon the top workof the fence without overstraining the wire. Hogs in working under a fence provided with tighteninglevers tend to raise the tighteninglever, and this raising of thet-ightening-lever,

in previous constructions, tends to loosen the top wire. In my arrangement, however, the tightening-lever has not been put under strain by a downward motion, but by a side motion, and the lifting of the lower end of the tightening-lever will not tend to loosen the top wire, but, on the contrary, will tend to tighten it.

The fence as thus far described as having no lower rails forms simply a cattle-fence, but one of great simplicity and stiffness, and the lower spaces of the fence, below the top crotchrail, are fairly closed against cattle by the diagonal tightening-levers. The addition of the diagonals H, reaching from the feet of the tightening-levers upward to the stakes or the rails above, as shown, serves in further closing the lower space of the fences and in bracing the fence in that direction in which it is not braced compressively by the tighteninglevers. It will be observed, however, that the tighteninglevers, when lashed to the stakes G, act as tensional braces, thus steadying the fence in both directions, which would not be the case were the lower ends of the tightening-levers secured only to bottom rails.

To close the lower spaces of the fence, so as to form a fence suitable for restraining hogs, I employ the series of lower rails, J. ese lines of rails I form of odd lengths spliced and lashed at their intersection with the tightening-levers F and diagonals H. By this arrangement I accomplish two purposes first, I secure a fence in which the lower lines of rails are most firmly steadied at points between the pairs of stakes, and, second, I am enabled to use short and otherwise useless ends of rails in forming the lower portion of the fence. As fences are generally constructed, thetransverse strength of the fence is all greatly concentrated at the stakes, strength being given at such point by the stakes themselves, and often by re-enforcing uprights arranged at the stakes. This leaves the central portion of the rails at the face of the panels with all the weakness due to the flexibility of the lengths of rails and to weak portions at the centers of the rails. By my construction I use short rails, otherwise useless, and secure the great serve as barriers for the protection of this portion.

I claim as myinvention 1. In a fence, the combination, substantially as set forth, of stakes A, top rails, B, bottom crotch-rails, G, cross-wires D, supporting the latter rails, wires L, engaging the top rails and the bottom crotch-rails and serving to hold these rails firmly into their crotches, and intermediate-short top rails, K, supported in twists in the wires L.

2. In a fence, the combination,with crotch stakes, rails, and wires at the stake-crotches, of diagonal tightening-levers engaging such wires and arranged, in the manner set forth, to tighten said wires as their lower ends are moved inwardly and upwardly, as set forth.

CALVIN S. HUNTER.

\Vitnesses: I

J. WV. SEE, W. A. SEW'ARD. 

